EMARGO~ Rn AGATNST DE~ LIVERY F76/ 67
. AUST A~
PRIME MINISTER
FOR PRESS APRIL 14, 1976
MF-' 4 SOUTH WALFS CAMPAIGN OPENING
This election is a choice between the responsible, realistic
and progressive Government offered by the Liberal Country
Parties and the irresponsible extravagance of the Labor Party.
in December last year the people of Australia, the people of
New South Wales, decisively endorsed the Liberal Country Party
approach to solving Australia's problems.
The people overwhelmingly rejected the Labor Party which had
done so much damage to Australia.
At the Federal level, we now have a. Government committed to
strengthening freedom, opportunity and concern for all Australians,
a Government committed to responsibility to restoring prosperity,
to giving Australians the opportunity of achieving their goals in
life.
But alongside a responsible Federal Government, Australia also
requires Stato Governments committed to playing their part in
working for a return to prosperity.
Both in the. State and Federal spheres, the Liberal and Country
Parties are the only parties offering idealistic and responsible
Government. The philosophy of the Liberal Party is the only philosophy which
can provide realistic, responsible Government, and progressive
enlightened reform.
More and more people are realising that Labor's approach does not
work. It is easy to promise to spend more and more of the
taxpayez ' s -money on more and more Government schemes. Some
of these schemes are for worthwhile ends. But all these schemes
have to be paid for paid for, through higher taxes. These taxes
in turn, eat away at the ability of individuals and families
to meet their own needs, make their own decisions about how their
earnings will be spent. This approach in the end just creates
new problems.
It reduces people's capacity to meet their own needs and make them
more and more dependent on what politicians choose ' to give them.
it fuels inflation, creates unemployment, and undermines prosperity.
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The Wran Labor Party is sounding more and more like the Whitlam
Labor Pa rty of 1972 -making promises which will lead to higher
taxes, more inflation, more unemployment.
No wonder he does not want Mr Whitlam to come into New South
Wales for thi s election. He is frightened people will notice
the similarities between his programme and Mr Whitlam's.
The Labor Party still has not realised that their approach does
not work.
In December 1975 the Federal Liberal and Country Party Government
began the task of bringing constructive management to Australia's
affairs. Our first task was to bring Labor's wild and extravagant spending
under control.
We have already made savings at the rate of over $ 1 billion in
a full year.
We have halted the grcowth of the Federal bureaucracy.
We have adopted a range of constructive policies to encourag e
business to expand plant and equipment and provide jobs.
We have introduced a comprehensive set of fle xible monetary
measures. We have begun a review of the mass of Labo r's crippling regulations.
We have undertaken a realistic wages policy which has the
overwhelming support of the Australian people.'
With the measures we have undertaken, we -have already been
able to introduce a feasible home savings grant scheme well
ahead of the tiLme announced during the election.
We are going to introduce one of the most important tax reforms
in Australia's history -tax indexation.
We have made a start.
We ne ed Sir Eric Willis as Premier of Australia's largest state
-we need the support he will give to our programme.
New South Wales cannot afford a Labor Government. Australia
cannot afford a Labor Government in New South Wales.
Unless inflation is brought under control there will never be
jobs for all who want to work because business will not have
the confidence to invest and consumers to spend.
The solutions to both unemployment and inflation are bound up
together. Where was Wran when the Labor Party in Canberra was undermining
Australia's prosperity?
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Judging y comments this week he seems to support Mr Whitlam's
view th t the States should remain financially dependent on
Canberra. The electors of New South Wales are entitled to know whether he
shares Mr Whitlam's view that the role of State Labor Parliamentarians
is to bring about their own dissolution.
What self respecting political leader could hold that view?"
We believe that power must be shared between the Commonwealth
and the States, between State Government and Local Government
and within the broader community. I
The Labor Party believes that all power should be centralised
in a few men, that Government should have much greater control
over the lives of everyone in every part of Australia.
Labor tried to destroy the States and centralise control over
Local Government.
The Labor Party tried-to destroy the Senate which was established
by the Constitution to protect the States.
In the Labor Party's view, all wisdom resided in a few men in
Canberra. Many thousands of Australians are now paying the price for that
approach'-school leavers still trying to find jobs, retired'
people whose savings have been eaten away by inflation, the
poor andthe disadvantaged whom inflation affects worst of all.
TheLiberal Party has pledged itself to one of the most important
and progressive reforms in Australia's history.
Our Federalism policy will be the strongest guarantee that
irresponsible attempts to centralise all power in the hands of
a few men can never succeed in Australia again.
Our Federalism policy will ensure that the States and Local-
Government will have a guaranteed and flexible source of income.
After this reform the people will have a clear view of which
Government is spending their money. It is a reform which should
give people' greater effective control over Government spending.
Sir Eric Willis has been a major force in supporting this reform
because he knows that it will be of great benefit to the people
of New South Wales.
The people of New South Wales are entitled to know whether the
Labor Party in this State will support our Federalism policy or
whether they stand by the Labor Party's traditional view of
centralising all real power in the hands of a few. G
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When the Liberal Party's Federalism Policy is put into effect
participation by people in local-and State Government will be
more effective. Decisions especially affecting Local communities
and the States will again be made where they s * hould be made
by the Government closest to the people affected.
Sir Eric Willis and the Liberal Party in New South Wales will
work enthusiastically to bring about this vital reform.
To say that this reform means double taxation is totally false.
There will be one form, one assessment, one set of tax rules,
one system. It will mean that you will be able to see who is
spending your money. It will also give the States greater
flexibility. It will mean that governments will1 have to stand
and be counted and take responsibility for their own actions.
I am not surprised that Mr Wran does not want the system.
Like Mr Whitlam he is looking for a scape-goat. He wants the
Commonwealth to be that scape-goat. Sir Eric Willis, as any
self-respecting Premier ought to be, is prepared to stand and
be counted. It is a system which would be wanted by anyone who
is not frightened to take responsibility for his own commitments.
The return of a Liberal Country Party Government will en sure
that relations between the Federal Government and New South
Wales will continue to be based on genuine cooperation and
good will.
Australians are, demanding greater responsibility from their
Governments. Our reforms of the Federal system will be a
significant step in securing that objective.
I * t is one thing to offer a grab-bag of promises it is another
to have to take responsibility for paying for** them.
, only on the basis of responsibility can we-get Australia growing
again. on ly if real economic growth can be got under way again can there
be genuine improvement in the position of the disadvantaged and
the weaker sections of the community.
The Liberal Party is a Party for all Australians.
Despite all its pretensions, the Labor Party has damaged
weaker sections of the community through its incompetence.
Fine words are worth nothing if they are not matched by a willingness
to look reality in the face and do the hard work that good
Government requires.
The Federal and State Liberal Parties stand together in their
belief in reform which ensures greater responsibility, greater
freedom, greater independence combined with a deep concern for
those who are truly disadvantaged.
That is the path along which our philosophy directs us.
That is the path the Australian people chose in December.
That is the path I believe the people of New South Wales will
choose on 1st May.